Our Commitment
elect.info processes political finance data from documented, authoritative sources to create the most comprehensive, traceable map of money in political systems. Trust is foundational to our mission. This page documents the practices, policies, and standards that back that commitment.
Data Integrity
Every record traces to a documented source. We process complete historical records with automated validation at every pipeline stage.
Security
Infrastructure secured with Vault-managed secrets, encrypted storage, network isolation, and automated deployment pipelines.
Privacy
We only publish data already in the public record. No tracking, no profiling, no selling user data. Minimal cookies, no third-party analytics.
Trust Indicators
Automated Pipeline
Data ingestion, transformation, and validation run through automated pipelines with audit trails.
End-to-End Encryption
TLS encryption for all data in transit. Encrypted storage for all data at rest.
Infrastructure as Code
All infrastructure defined in version-controlled code via Kubernetes, ArgoCD, and Tekton.
Coverage Expansion
Expanding from US federal data to include state-level and international election finance data.
Entity Resolution
Graph-based entity resolution connects donors, candidates, and committees across filings.
Data Integrity
Accurate data is the foundation of our mission. Every record in our system traces back to a documented source. Here's how we ensure integrity from source to display.
Data Sources
We ingest data from a variety of authoritative sources including government agencies, election commissions, and other public data providers. All sources are documented and listed on our data sources page.
Pipeline Architecture
Data flows through a multi-tier pipeline with validation at each stage:
Bronze (Raw Ingestion)
Official bulk files downloaded and stored as-is in Delta Lake format. Full historical records preserved. 281+ flows across all sources.
Silver (Standardization)
Raw data cleaned, typed, and standardized. Date parsing, numeric validation, and schema enforcement applied. Defensive parsing (try_to_date, TRY_CAST) prevents data loss.
Gold (Entity Resolution)
Graph-based entity resolution links donors, candidates, and committees across filings. Best-in-class algorithms identify and link records. 38 materialized views.
Bullion (Graph Analytics)
Affinity calculations, contribution aggregations, and network analysis produce the final data products served to users.
Validation Practices
- Complete historical record processing — not sampling
- Schema enforcement at each pipeline tier
- Defensive date and numeric parsing to prevent data loss
- Amendment tracking across filing versions
- Automated pipeline monitoring with Rundeck orchestration
- Unity Catalog metadata management for all datasets
- Full-refresh capability to rebuild from source at any time
Security
Our infrastructure is designed with defense in depth. Secrets management, network isolation, encrypted storage, and automated deployments protect the integrity of our data and systems.
Infrastructure Security
Secrets Management
HashiCorp Vault with Transit auto-unseal manages all secrets. No secrets in code, environment variables injected at runtime.
Network Isolation
Kubernetes network policies enforce service-to-service communication rules. Internal services are not exposed externally.
Encrypted Storage
S3-compatible object storage with encryption at rest. TLS for all data in transit between services.
Identity & Access
Authentik provides authentication for protected resources. Role-based access control for internal systems.
Deployment Security
GitOps Pipeline
All infrastructure changes go through version-controlled code. ArgoCD enforces desired state. No manual cluster modifications.
CI/CD
Tekton pipelines build, test, and deploy automatically on merge. Integration tests run against every deployment.
Container Security
Minimal base images (Alpine Linux). Non-root container execution. Read-only root filesystems where possible.
Monitoring
Prometheus metrics, Grafana dashboards, and structured logging via Fluent Bit provide observability across all services.
Technology Stack
Privacy
We believe in data minimalism. We publish what's already public record and collect the minimum necessary from our visitors.
Data We Publish
Political finance data on elect.info comes from publicly available records and documented sources. We do not:
- Collect or publish non-public personal information
- Scrape social media or private databases
- Infer political affiliations beyond official filings
- Sell or share data with third parties for commercial purposes
Visitor Privacy
When you visit elect.info:
- No third-party analytics or tracking scripts
- No advertising networks or pixels
- No user profiling or behavioral tracking
- Minimal functional cookies only
- Server access logs retained for operational purposes only
Right to Be Forgotten
Because we publish official public records, we generally cannot remove individual records from our dataset. If you believe data about you is inaccurate, contact us and we will verify against the original source filing. Corrections from official sources are automatically incorporated in our next pipeline run.
Compliance
We are proactively pursuing industry-recognized certifications and regulatory compliance to ensure the highest standards of data protection and organizational security.
SOC 2
We are actively working toward SOC 2 Type II certification, which evaluates an organization's controls related to security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy.
Our existing infrastructure practices — including Vault-managed secrets, encrypted storage, GitOps deployments, and structured audit logging — provide a strong foundation for SOC 2 compliance.
Data Privacy Regulations
We are pursuing certification of compliance with major data privacy regulations:
GDPR
General Data Protection Regulation (EU). We are aligning our data handling practices with GDPR requirements including data subject rights, lawful basis for processing, and data protection by design.
CCPA / CPRA
California Consumer Privacy Act and California Privacy Rights Act. We are implementing controls to support consumer rights including the right to know, delete, and opt-out of the sale of personal information.
Additional Jurisdictions
As we expand our coverage to international election finance data, we will pursue compliance with applicable data privacy regulations in those jurisdictions.
Our Approach
- Privacy by design embedded in our data pipeline architecture
- Regular review of data handling practices against regulatory requirements
- Documented data processing activities and lawful basis for processing
- Data subject rights procedures for access, rectification, and erasure requests
- Vendor and subprocessor due diligence for all third-party services
- Ongoing employee and contractor training on data protection obligations
Contact
For compliance inquiries or to exercise your data rights, contact us at hello@elect.info.
Elect Info Privacy Policy
1. Purpose
This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, share, and protect your personal information when you use our website and Services. It is intended to help you make informed decisions when using our website.
2. Information We Collect
A. Information You Voluntarily Provide
This data is collected directly from you when you interact with our website:
- Contact Information: Name, email address, postal address, and telephone number (e.g., when you subscribe to a newsletter, submit a tip, or contact us).
- Account Data: Username and password (if applicable for comments or a premium subscription).
- Comments and Submissions: Any content you submit, such as comments on articles, letters to the editor, or responses to surveys.
B. Information We Collect Automatically (Usage Data)
When you access our website, we may automatically collect certain information:
- Log Data: IP address, browser type, browser version, pages visited, time and date of visit, time spent on pages, and other statistics.
- Cookie Data: Information collected through cookies and similar tracking technologies.
- Device Information: Information about the device you use to access the website, such as hardware model and operating system.
3. How We Use Personal Data
Data collected on our website will only be used for the purposes specified in this Privacy Policy. We use your personal information to:
- Provide and Maintain the Service: Deliver content and services you request, such as newsletters, article updates, or premium content.
- Improve the Website: Analyze usage trends, diagnose technical problems, and improve the user experience.
- Communicate with You: Send administrative notices, respond to inquiries, and provide information about changes to our terms or policies.
- For Journalism and Editorial Purposes: Review submitted comments or tips and use information for legitimate editorial activities.
- For Advertising and Analytics: Deliver relevant advertisements and measure campaign effectiveness.
4. Sharing Your Personal Information
We will not release your name, email address, or any other personal information to anyone outside Elect Info except as expressly set forth in this Privacy Policy or without your consent. We may share your personal data with:
- Service Providers: Third-party companies and individuals who assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or serving our users.
- Advertising Partners: To display ads relevant to your interests.
- Legal Requirements: When required by law or in good faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with a legal obligation, protect our rights or property, or protect the safety of users or the public.
5. Cookies and Tracking Technologies
We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track activity on our website and hold certain information. You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. If you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our Service.
6. Security of Data
We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorized way. However, no method of transmission over the Internet is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
7. Your Rights
Depending on where you live, you may have specific rights regarding your personal data, including:
- The Right to Access: Request copies of your personal data.
- The Right to Rectification: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information.
- The Right to Erasure: Request deletion of personal information we collected, subject to certain exceptions.
- The Right to Restrict Processing: Request restriction of processing of your personal data.
- The Right to Object to Processing: Object to our processing of your personal data.
8. Children's Privacy
Our service is not directed to individuals under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 18. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with personal data, please contact us.
9. Contact Information
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, concerns, or complaints, you can contact us:
- By Email: hello@elect.info
This policy may be amended from time to time to maintain compliance with the law and to reflect any changes to our data collection process. We recommend that users periodically review this Privacy Policy to ensure they are notified of any updates.
Terms of Use
1. Acceptance of Terms
1.1. Agreement to Terms: These Terms of Use constitute a legally binding agreement made between you, whether personally or on behalf of an entity ("you"), and Lichtung, LLC (doing business as www.elect.info, "we," "us," or "our") concerning your access to and use of the www.elect.info website as well as any other media form, media channel, mobile website or mobile application related, linked, or otherwise connected thereto (collectively, the "Service").
1.2. Binding Acceptance: By accessing the Service, you agree that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by all of these Terms of Use. If you do not agree with all of these Terms of Use, then you are expressly prohibited from using the Service and you must discontinue use immediately.
1.3. Changes to Terms: We reserve the right to change or modify these Terms of Use at any time and for any reason. We will notify users of any changes via email where possible, but we are not obliged to do so. Your continued use of the Service after the effective date of the revised Terms of Use will constitute your acceptance of the changes.
2. Services and Data
2.1. Service Description: We aggregate and re-host publicly available data, allow users to create analytical reports and interact with a curated data platform for educational purposes. All original terms and conditions from every source apply. Users assume liability for misuse.
2.2. Data Ownership and Rights: You retain ownership and sovereignty over the data you provide to the Service. We adhere to the principles of Privacy and Security, Access and Use, Portability, Erasure, Transparency and Informed Consent, Benefit, and Correction concerning your data, as detailed in our .
2.3. Data Retention and Erasure: We will retain your data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this agreement, or to comply with our legal obligations. You may exercise your rights of access, use, erasure, and correction by contacting us directly.
3. User Accounts and Security
3.1. Account Responsibility: You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account and password and for all activities that occur under your account. You agree to provide and maintain verifiable unique identifiers such as a verified email address for secure retrieval and future portability of data.
3.2. Prohibited Behavior: You agree not to use the Service for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these Terms of Use. Prohibited uses include, but are not limited to:
- Attempting to gain unauthorized access to the Service or its data.
- Interfering with or disrupting the Service or servers.
- Violating any applicable law or regulation.
- Selling, modifying, renting, sharing, or distributing our content in any way.
3.3. Termination: We may suspend or terminate your account and your access to the Service at any time, without notice, for breach of these Terms of Use, particularly for abusive behavior. You may also terminate your account by contacting us.
4. Intellectual Property Rights
4.1. Our Content: Unless otherwise indicated, the Service and all its original content, features, and functionality (including but not limited to all software, code, databases, design, text, and graphics) are the proprietary property of Lichtung, LLC and are protected by copyright and trademark laws.
4.2. Limited License: We grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the Service solely for noncommercial, personal uses.
5. Fees and Payments
5.1. Subscription and Billing: If you subscribe to paid Services, you agree to pay the fees applicable to your subscription. You will be billed in advance on a recurring, periodic basis (e.g., monthly or annually).
5.2. Price Changes and Refunds: We reserve the right to change our prices at any time. We will notify you of any price changes.
6. Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability
6.1. Disclaimer of Warranties: The Service is provided on an "as-is" and "as-available" basis. We disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including, without limitation, implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or completely secure.
6.2. Limitation of Liability: In no event will we or our directors, employees, or agents be liable to you or any third party for any direct, indirect, consequential, exemplary, incidental, special, or punitive damages, including lost profit, lost revenue, loss of data, or other damages arising from your use of the Service, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages. In any event, our total liability to you for any cause whatsoever will at all times be limited to the amount paid, if any, by you to us during the six (6) month period prior to any cause of action arising.
7. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution
7.1. Governing Law: These Terms of Use and your use of the Service are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of TX, USA, without regard to its conflict of law principles.
7.2. Dispute Resolution: All disputes, controversies, and claims arising out of or relating to these Terms of Use will be settled by binding arbitration in Round Rock, TX or in the courts located in Williamson County, TX.
8. Contact Information
If you have any questions about these Terms of Use, please contact us at:
- Email: hello@elect.info